Irish visual artist Aideen Barry and Ballina-based disability organisations are working together to produce a stop motion animation film ‘Silent Moves’ inspired by the silent movies of the 1930s, melding together mime, music and movement with the latest animation techniques.

Their project is one of three “Ignite” commissions which represent the largest ever investment in Ireland’s arts and disability sector. The resulting film will be launched in the Ballina Arts Centre on November 28th.

Aideen, known for her performance, film, sculpture, drawing, and installation work, has worked with artists from the Western Care Ridgepool Training Centre and members of the Scannán Technologies group, along with dance artist and choreographer Emma O’Kane.

New technologies, including new green screen and advanced animation techniques, are being used to create the film, which is inspired by the silent movies of the 1930s, the era of Buster Keaton, Clara Bow and Charlie Chaplin.

The art work will be launched in Ballina Arts Centre on 28th November, 2014 at 8pm and will have a longer showing in the gallery space in 2015. The commission will also produce a high-quality accessible publication to accompany the art work.

Aideen says of the project, “Without the use of words or sounds, silent movies make us splutter with laughter, break our hearts, win them over again, and take use through a world of chaos to a moment of pure charm, without once uttering a word.

“The world IS silent for all of us. For we process each of our everyday experiences, our heartbreaks, our joys ultimately on our own, in our own silent world, in our minds.

“Our silent moving image works take as starting points what it is to be a person, what it feels to be in love, what it feels to be bashful, what it feels to be hurt and together through movement and gesture we have tried to encapsulate our experiences in front of the camera.”

Sean Walsh, Director of Ballina Arts Centre, says, “We’re absolutely delighted about the Ignite Mayo commission. For the past six years, Ballina Arts Centre has made a deliberate effort to push the agenda of disability arts. We are delighted to be working with Aideen Barry and Emma O’Kane on, what I feel, is a beautiful idea. Film, as an art form, offers huge potential. We’ve worked with the Ridgepool Training Centre and the Scannán Technologies groups for a good number of years now, and have completed very successful, ambitious projects with them both. This is the culmination of all that work and we’re all really looking forward to seeing the finished artwork.”

Silent Moves is commissioned by Mayo County Council Arts Office as part of Ignite and facilitated by the Ballina Arts Centre.

Ignite, a unique and innovative approach to commissioning and touring ambitious new work by artists with disabilities, is an initiative of The Arts Council, Arts & Disability Ireland (ADI), Galway City Council and Galway County Council, Cork City Council and Mayo County Council.